Elizabeth Gilbert

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Elizabeth Gilbert was born in Waterbury, Connecticut in 1969, and grew up on a small family Christmas tree farm. From earliest memory, all she ever wanted to do was write.Elizabeth attended New York University, where she studied political science by day and worked on her short stories by night. After college, she spent several years traveling around the country, working in bars, diners and ranches, collecting experiences to transform into fiction. These explorations eventually formed the basis of her first book a short story collection called Pilgrims, which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway award. During these early years in New York, she also worked as a journalist for such publications as Spin, GQ and The New York Times Magazine. She was a three-time finalist for The National Magazine work, and an article she wrote in GQ about her experiences bartending on the Lower East Side eventually became the basis for the movie Coyote Ugly.In 2000, Elizabeth published her first novel, Stern Men(a story of brutal territory wars between two remote fishing islands off the coast of Maine) which was a New York Times Notable Book. In 2002, Elizabeth published The Last American Man - the true story of the modern day woodsman Eustace Conway. This book, her first work of non-fiction, was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.Elizabeth is best known for her 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love, which chronicled her journey alone around the world, looking for solace after a difficult divorce. The book was an international bestseller, translated into over thirty languages, with over 7 million copies sold worldwide, and a movie version starring Julia Roberts. The book became so popular that, in 2008, Time Magazine named Elizabeth as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.Elizabeth Gilbert lives in rural New Jersey with her husband.

Samenvatting

**From the # 1 New York Times bestselling author of Eat Pray Love and The Signature of All Things, a delicious novel of glamour, sex, and adventure, about a young woman discovering that you don't have to be a good girl to be a good person.

''Intimate and richly sensual, razzle-dazzle with a hint of danger.'' -USA Today

''Pairs well with a cocktail...or two.'' -TheSkimm**

''Life is both fleeting and dangerous, and there is no point in denying yourself pleasure, or being anything other than what you are.''

Beloved author Elizabeth Gilbert returns to fiction with a unique love story set in the New York City theater world during the 1940s. Told from the perspective of an older woman as she looks back on her youth with both pleasure and regret (but mostly pleasure), City of Girls explores themes of female sexuality and promiscuity, as well as the idiosyncrasies of true love.

In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves - and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. It will also lead to the love of her life, a love that stands out from all the rest.

Now eighty-nine years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life - and the gusto and autonomy with which she approached it. ''At some point in a woman's life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time,'' she muses. ''After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is.'' Written with a powerful wisdom about human desire and connection, City of Girls is a love story like no other.

Recensie(s)

A glamorous, sexy, compelling romp of a novel about showgirls in New York in the 1940s. It is an addictive story, with vivid, brazenly drawn female characters, that brims with fascinating historical details of the time ... Radical and refreshing to read -- Dolly Alderton * Sunday Times * I adored this story, I fell in love with Vivian from page one, she has an utterly singular voice, and I was captivated by tcombination of glamour and grit - it's a dazzling escapist fantasy with characters and emotions that are thrillingly real -- Daisy Buchanan A glorious, multi-layered, emotionally astute celebration of womanhood ... An eloquently persuasive treatise on the judgment and punishment of women, and a heartfelt call to reclaim female sexual agency -- Sam Baker * Guardian * Breezily funny and vividly written, City Of Girls is a quietly radical celebration of feminine sexual inhibition that slips down as easily as a gin martini. Expect to see it on multiple beaches this summer -- Claire Allfree * Metro * A rollicking, beautifully rendered ride of glitter and fun ... Gilbert's novel is something of a masterpiece of flapdoodle itself ... Gilbert has a knack for storytelling and her plot doesn't so much twist as twirl, high-kicking all the way ... A rambunctious anthem to living a life joyous and satisfyingly full - and that deserves an ovation * Evening Standard * City of Girls will be a hit ... Readers will adore its bolstering message of hope * Sunday Times * Written with such wit, verve and emotional honesty that you feel you've washed down 100 life lessons within a vodka martini ... There are some of the most brilliant and truthful evocations of youthful sexual exploration that you'll ever read ... She has triumphed. City of Girls is an education in love, and an iridescent delight -- Rowan Pelling * Spectator * Brilliant on female friendship, desire and the influence a good mentor can bring to enrich a young woman's life * Grazia Summer Reads * Compelling ... works with themes of freedom, responsibility and empowerment that feel both timeless and timely. In a moment when women's desires are still being governed, this is a story about a woman who recognises - and embraces - hers * Time * There is so much to love in City of Girls. Vivian's voice is strong and leaves you yearning for more time with her * Independent * A romantic misadventure written with such wit, verve and emotional honesty that you feel you've washed down 100 life lessons within a vodka martini ... She has triumphed. City of Girls is an education in love, and an iridescent delight -- Rowan Pelling * Spectator * City of Girls is about women throwing off the shackles of marriage and convention in order to explore their desires ... What I loved about Vivian, is that she seizes the day * BBC Radio 4 * The self-portrait of a woman whose truest intimacy is with her own being ... It's the story of a woman who's made an independent life as best she can. If the usual narrative shapes don't fit most lives - neither she nor her creator seems to be worrying about it * New York Times * Expect to spot a copy on every beach towel come June * Vogue, Must-Reads * Hugely enjoyable and goes down with a smacking of lips while bringing a sparkle to the eye * i * Her wise, funny, ballsy voice is one that's given countless women the courage to change their lives... A glamorous romp of a tale that dazzleswith sequin-clad showgirls -- Clover Stroud * Red * Wherever Liz Gilbert goes, we'll follow * Oprah magazine, Best book releases, 2019 * Fizzy, fabulous ... As bubbly as a champagne cocktail but with a real kick in the tail * Sunday Express * Funny, bittersweet ... Explores female desire in a radically refreshing way * independent.co.uk * For years, I have wanted to write a novel about women who have a lot of sex, and who like it, and whose lives aren't destroyed by it, says Eat Pray Love author Gilbert. This is that book, set across the glittering fabric of a lost New York * Red, The books we can't wait to read 2019 * I freaking adored this book. Its heroine, Vivian Morris, will absolutely steal your heart and probably do a good job of breaking it, too -- Sarra Manning The Eat Pray Love author transports us to New York in the summer of 1940 and a vibrant theatre scene studded with raucous showgirls * Net-a-Porter.com, Best Summer Reads * Young women come of age in war time New York, in the new novel from the author of Eat, Pray, Love * Guardian, 2019 in books: what you'll be reading this year * This cracker of a book manages to be funny, playful and thoughtful all at once ... A real joy to read ... A frothy sequin clad frolic ... a dazzling read * Good Housekeeping, 10 Books to Read Right Now' * Sensational * Cosmopolitan * A classic coming-of-age story * Daily Express * A fizzing portrait of a giddy young female hedonism * Irish Times *